According to Variety, the rapper-turned-actor will star as the younger version of Ordell Robbie, originally played by Samuel L. Jackson. Hawkes, who has appeared in American Gangster and Contagion, will play Louis Gara, who was depicted by Robert De Niro.

The flick, written and directed by Dan Schecter, follows "Ordell and Louis as they team up to kidnap Mickey Dawson, the wife of a corrupt Detroit real estate developer. When the husband refuses to pay the ransom for his wife's return, the ex-cons are forced to reconceive their plan, and the angry housewife uses the duo to get her revenge." Production begins in May.

Mos Def has most recently appeared on Showtime's Dexter, as well as the films Next Day Air, Cadillac Records and Be Kind Rewind.